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City property owners might see a 16% increase in their real estate taxes!

The owner of a $350K home in the City would pay nearly $500 ($473) of extra real estate taxes each year!?!

This tax increase would result in the owner of a median priced city home paying $26 more in real estate taxes each month.

I'm guessing that if you ask most parents of school aged kids in the City if they'd be willing to pay $26 per month such that their child would not be in an overcrowded, not-so-ideal, learning environment for high school, they'd likely be quick to say yes.

That said, this $26 per month increase would need to be paid for 25 years -- but for a parent of a child in the school system, I'm guessing that would still seem to be a reasonable cost.

I'm also guessing that City property owners who do not have children in the local school system would LOVE for their property taxes to NOT increase. And I'll even go a step further -- I am guessing that they don't really want school aged children to have an overcrowded, not-so-ideal, learning environment -- it's probably just more about the increased tax burden.

Anyhow. Numbers are funny.

Read today's Daily News Record article, and feel free to form your own opinions. There seem to be plenty of them circulating through our community about this topic. :)

The City of Harrisonburg is in the midst of updating the Comprehensive Plan for the City. As per the City....

The Comprehensive Plan presents a vision of Harrisonburg's future. It identifies steps to move toward that vision by providing information about current conditions, long-term goals and objectives, and recommended implementation strategies. As described in the Code of Virginia, the Comprehensive Plan is general in nature. Harrisonburg's Plan addresses a wide range of issues including but not limited to: land use, housing, education, transportation, recreation, the preservation of historic and natural resources, and economic development. The plan serves as a long-term guide for the community, and it helps City leaders with setting policies and decision-making.

So, basically, what do you want the City of Harrisonburg to be in 10 or 20 years? Discussions taking place and decisions being made right now will affect that future, and you have the opportunity to be a part of the conversation!

Better yet -- there are several Public Workshops coming up that will allow you to chime in on topics near and dear to your heart....

OK, OK, that's probably not true -- Harrisonburg probably does not have an infinite need for student housing. Just consider my title, then, to be an intro to all of the alternative perspectives that have been shared with me since I wrote these two posts....

OK -- here goes -- all the reasons I might be wrong, and all of this new student housing might be OK, or even a good thing....

1. JMU is growing!All of this student housing is necessary -- JMU is continuing to grow, and they are not building on campus fast enough for their growth, so the private sector must build and rent housing to students in order to meet that growing demand.

2. Denying growth just pushes it elsewhere.If the City decided to stop permitting new student housing communities to be built, that would just push developers to build them in the County, or push students to live in otherwise owner occupied neighborhoods.

3. This is an affordable way to get workforce housing.There isn't much truly affordable rental housing being built -- and older student housing complexes being effectively turned into workforce housing by virtue of students being attracted to new student housing communities is not necessarily a bad thing. It may be the most affordable way to create affordable or workforce housing.

4. Bring on the wrecking ball.If even more student housing is built, the rental rates will fall even lower on the oldest complexes, devaluing those properties to the point where it will make sense to just knock them down and build new housing -- thus, eliminating the older, outdated housing.

5. How much regulation do you want "the government" to do?If the government (planning commission, city council, staff) should start making judgement calls about how much student housing is too much student -- and thus regulating what landowners (and student housing developers) can and cannot do -- should they also start governing other segments of the private sector? Should they regulate how many hair salons exist? How many banks are permitted to operate? How many restaurants can open? How many Realtors can sell homes? :)

OK -- again -- I don't necessarily agree with all of the perspectives above, but I believe it is important to consider these counterpoints when thinking about how our community should be planning for the future as it pertains to student housing, land use, property taxes, schools, etc.

And, as I mentioned to a reader in response to their comments....

I don't know if new student housing projects should or should not be denied - but I think the local community needs to fully understand the impact of continuing to approve more student housing communities.

If older student housing communities become workforce housing, great, no problem -- but let's realize that this is the result of approving new student housing communities, and make sure that infrastructure (schools, for example) are in place for the new workforce housing that we have indirectly created.

Traditional logic would say no -- the construction of new college student housing in Harrisonburg won't increase the load on elementary schools, as most college students do not have elementary school aged children....

Going a step further, I would guess that some local government staff and elected officials MIGHT (?) use this traditional logic when thinking about whether to approve rezonings, or other approvals, for new student housing to be built in the Harrisonburg area.

But wait - what if the following sequence happens (thanks Deb, with some revisions)....

Shiny new student housing is built.

College students flock to the new living options.

Vacancy rates increase at older, run down student housing complexes.

Families start moving into older student housing complexes.

These families increase the elementary school aged population.

Local elementary schools have more students to educate.

I think we have seen this happen over the past 20 years in Harrisonburg, in cycles, as large quantities of student housing is built in waves.

And think about it, from the other direction, for a moment -- we all know that the local elementary school population is growing -- but why, and where? It's not as if local developers and builders are out building an extraordinary number of townhomes or starter homes for young families, causing an influx of new elementary school students. So -- if the elementary school population is rising, and it's not because of an increase in the stock of owner occupied real estate in Harrisonburg, then....

1. Perhaps this elementary (or K-12, really) school enrollment growth is, contrary to what we'd otherwise believe, a direct result of an increase in college student housing.

2. Perhaps we need to think about the fiscal impact of educating more elementary (and then middle and high) school students when we think about approving yet another student housing complex.

3. Perhaps, if building new student housing when we might not really need it, leads to increased demands on our local K-12 schools, then maybe we need to pay more attention to whether that student housing is needed.

Just some thoughts to ponder as we think about and plan for the future here in the City of Harrisonburg -- and Rockingham County.

Construction is moving right along on Bluestone Elementary, being built on Garbers Church Road across from Harrisonburg High School.

Excerpts follow from an April 23, 2016 Daily News Record article....

"Bluestone is meant to alleviate overcrowding within the division, especially at Skyline and Thomas Harrison middle schools."

"Once the school opens in fall 2017, Kizner said that fifth-graders will no longer attend the middle schools and will instead continue attending their respective elementary schools."

"The $25.9 million facility will sit on 10.8 acres across the street from Harrisonburg High School and adjacent to Heritage Oaks Golf Course. It will be 112,000-square-feet and consist of three floors."

The school-aged population in the City of Harrisonburg is continuing to grow.

The high school needs to be expanded or a new high school built.

Any such expansion or new build will be very expensive.

This large expense is likely to be paid for primarily via an increase in real estate taxes.

So, then, how much will real estate taxes increase?

As shown above, it depends on the value of your home. These examples are based on the potential need for a $0.175 increase (per $100 of assessed value) in the tax rate.

Increasing the tax rate from $0.85 to $1.025 would result in....

The owner of a $150K property paying $22 more per month.

The owner of a $250K property paying $36 more per month.

The owner of a $350K property paying $51 more per month.

The owner of a $500K property paying $73 more per month.

So -- yes -- this would be a drastic increase (20.5%) one-year increase in the real estate tax rate. But when broken down to the actual increased cost per month, it does not seem quite as overwhelming.

The City of Harrisonburg School Board has approved the redistricting plan for the City elementary and middle schools to go into effect this coming (2017-18) school year. The final public hearing took place this past Tuesday, and no members of the public spoke to provide any additional feedback about any further recommended changes.

Some excerpts from today's Daily News Record....

The division must change its attendance boundaries to accommodate its new $25.9 million school, Bluestone Elementary School, which will open on Garbers Church Road next fall for up to 750 students.

With the opening of Bluestone, fifth-graders will remain at their elementary schools instead of advancing to the middle schools.

Most of Bluestone's future students now attend Keister Elementary. Students from Waterman and Spotswood will take the place of former Keister students.

If you haven't heard, Harrisonburg City Public Schools are in the midst of a redistricting process, which may change which elementary school or middle school your child will attend in the City of Harrisonburg. This redistricting is a result of the changes required by the forthcoming opening (Fall 2017) of Bluestone Elementary School on Garbers Church Road.

A few highlights to address some FAQ's....

Students in Dual Immersion classes will have the option of staying at their current school.

Rising 5th grade and 8th grade students can stay at their current school contingent on space.

Consideration will be given for younger siblings of rising 5th and 8th grade students to stay at their current school until the rising 5th or 8th grade student graduates.

You can review all of the information about the redistricting and view the most up to date maps on the HCPS website.

Thanks to Justin, we easily figure that out (see the map below)! I found this great map on the "Schools" page of the Rockingham County Public Schools web site. You'll find links to each school, and other great information there as well.

Late notice, I know, but on Monday, March 31, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. the groundbreaking will take place for East Rockingham High School and River Bend Elementary School. The location (14652 Rockingham Pike, Elkton, VA) is indicated below.

Due to a schedule conflict, I will not be able to attend. If anyone makes it, let me know how it goes, or e-mail me some photos!Receive updates from HarrisonburgHousingToday.com via e-mail:Enter your e-mail address:

If you're reading my blog in a browser, as opposed to in a rss reader, you'll always see a property in the upper right corner of my blog. It is labeled as a "Top Property" with a number beside it --- and several of my blog readers have asked what this is all about. Now you'll know . . .

Coldwell Banker Funkhouser Realtors operates over 60 web sites with property listings --- this includes our company web site, and a web site for each agent in our company. Each day, consumers perform thousands of property searches on all of these sites combined.

We keep track of which properties are being viewed, and each night we sort through all of the properties on the market to find the 100 properties that consumers have viewed most frequently in the most recent 30 days.

Curious to see how these properties rank? Visit my blog, and click on the button next to the "Top Property" section. You'll be able to see a list of the top 100 most viewed properties. Enjoy!Receive updates from HarrisonburgHousingToday.com via e-mail:Enter your e-mail address:

I am intrigued to see the process unfolds. Everything I've heard about school redistricting is that it can be controversial. Receive updates from HarrisonburgHousingToday.com via e-mail:Enter your e-mail address:

As seen below, the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County real estate market experienced a change in direction this month. October and November of 2007 showed sales quite a bit stronger than 2006. However, December 2007 numbers fell quite a bit below October '07, November '07, as well as December '06.

January sales figures should be interesting, as they have been very consistent for the past several years.

The Details:The graph above shows the number of sales per month as reported by the Harrisonburg/Rockingham MLS in all of Harrisonburg and Rockingham CountyReceive updates from HarrisonburgHousingToday.com via e-mail:Enter your e-mail address:

Five local schools were recognized by U.S. News & World Report as being amongst "America's Best High Schools." According to the report, "A three-step process determined the best high schools. The first twosteps ensured that the schools serve all of their students well, usingstate proficiency standards as the measuring benchmarks. For thoseschools that made it past the first two steps, a third step assessedthe degree to which schools prepared students for college-level work." (read more)